News Releases
May 11, 2010
For Immediate Release
For additional information:
Barbara Kerr, APR
Executive Director of
Communications and Marketing
Telephone: 360-992-2921
Email: bkerr@clark.edu
Clark College Students Honor Native American Indian
Youth and Elders
Photos courtesy: Jim Roberts, High Rock Singers.
The American Indian Students Council of Clark College
will host a mini powwow on Friday, May 21 from 6-10 p.m.
VANCOUVER, Wash. – A powwow is a special gathering held to dance, sing, socialize, and honor Native American culture. On Friday, May 21, Clark College will host a mini powwow to honor Native American youth and elders.
The powwow will be held from 6-10 p.m. in the Gaiser Student Center on Clark’s main campus. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.
The event, which is sponsored by the American Indian Students Council of Clark College (AISCOCC), is free and open to the public.
The event will begin with the posting of the colors by the Northwest Indian Veterans Association. Arnold Littlehead will serve as master of ceremonies. Littlehead, a member of the Assiniboine/Sioux tribes who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, has been an emcee at powwows for 35 years. The High Rock Singers will be the Host Drum.
"Our members will continue to live by the words of Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Member Becky Archibald, our Community Volunteer Elder," said AISCOCC President Rosie Arevalo. "She has asked us to 'honor those that have walked before us and realize the past is our heritage; the present, our responsibility; and the future...our challenge.'"
Vendor tables are available for a fee of $20. Organizers note that the selling of sacred items is prohibited.
Vendors and others who are interested in participating may contact Rosie Arevalo at aiscocc@gmail.com or by calling 210-251-9051.
About the High Rock Singers and the “Host Drum”
A “drum” is a group of performers who play a large, specially designed drum and sing traditional songs; it is the “pulse” of a powwow. The “host drum” of the powwow is primarily responsible for providing music for the dancers.
At the Clark College event, the High Rock Singers will be “Host Drum.” The High Rock Singers were originally part of Midnight Echo, a youth drum from the Skokomish, Nisqually, Chehalis and Squaxin Island Indian Reservations. The drum will be staffed by affiliated singers from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and well as singers from Portland, Ore. and Kelso, Wash.
"High Rock" refers to two different geographic locations. One is a hill overlooking Monroe, Wash., the home town of High Rock Singers Coordinator Jim Roberts. The other is a high cliff near the area where many Warm Springs tribal members harvest huckleberries in midsummer.
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